Celtic Closing In on Long-Term Contract With Star Player Daizen Maeda

Celtic have been pretty active this summer as they have managed to bring in a few new additions. Celtic have already signed Hayato Inamura, Kieran Tierney, Ross Doohan, Callum Osmand and Benjamin Nygren as Brendan Rodgers bolsters his team for the upcoming season.

There have been some departures as well, such as Scott Bain, Gustaf Lagerbielke, Maik Nawrocki, Jeffrey Schlupp and Greg Taylor, they've all moved away from Parkhead. The most recent name coming up on that list is Nicolas Kuhn. He has joined Como FC.

However, a new report has surfaced regarding the Celtic star's future and the Bhoys fans are going to love it.

According to Football Insider, Celtic is closing in on an agreement to sign Daizen Maeda to a long-term contract. Given Maeda's outstanding performance from the previous season, the Scottish Champions have made securing his future a top priority this summer.

After Celtic failed to find a replacement for Kyogo Furuhashi in the winter transfer window, they opted to play Maeda through the middle, and there was no looking back for him after that. Maeda finished as the club's top scorer in all competitions with 33 goals, as well as a Player of the Year sweep for both his club and Scottish football.

Due to his performance Maeda has attracted interest from around the Europe. However, Rodgers sees him as a key component of his future plans and is willing to build the team around him to compete both domestically and in Europe.

Shedding some further insight, Pete O'Rourke stated:

“It makes a lot of sense for Celtic to try and keep hold of Maeda. If Celtic want to continue their dominance in Scotland, they’re going to have to keep hold of their best players, and there’s no doubt Maeda is amongst those.

“He’s under contract until 2027, so they’re looking to extend that and give him bumper new terms just to keep the player happy and ward off interest from Premier League clubs. There was talk that Brentford and Tottenham were interested in him.

“I think the player is happy at Celtic, especially if they’re competing in the Champions League and winning silverware, he’ll be happy to extend his contract.

“Celtic are looking to build their team around Maeda and won’t want to lose their number-one forward right now.”

Nobody would want to see their finest player go, thus it would be extremely relieving if this deal gets completed as soon as possible.